Saturday, July 29, 2017

Sam took a year off from All Star Cheer and we focused on the high school aspect of the sport. She was not a fan, but her body appreciated the rest. Although the dead mats made me second guess my decision many times, she loved the team and I loved watching her perform. I am proud of her for sticking it out even though it was an odd year for freshman cheerleaders at our school, and High School Cheer is so different from All Star Cheer..

Before I start this year's cheerleading books, I wanted to post last years book. (with a few comments of course). First, I am still loving the 6x8 size! My Story Book by Echo Park Paper had a great green and white polkadot book that fits the Sn@p! pages as well -I have lots of options of colors and page designs - making them both super awesome!

lets get started...

As you can see I prefer the messier style of books. Incorporating all size and styles of pages and a TON of memorabilia! These books can hold a lot! And if anything stick up & out - I think that is all that much cooler!!

The 6x8 page protectors are perfect for holding banquet books, event programs, etc.... (the safety pin I believe came from Studio Calico).

Because Sam was on two teams - Freshman & Comp, I wanted to keep the teams and activities separate as much as I can through the book, so they are actually divided later, you will see.

Adding matching embellishments or colored card stock backgrounds kept the events separated, even though the small pages were side-by-side.

The photo days pics came next and here is how I separated the teams. This is her Freshman team. The photo was mounted on card stock and added as it own element in the middle of the book. on the flip side is the team roster (from the end of season banquet book) Behind it (and close up below) you can see Sam's 5x7 Individual photo mounted and added into a 6x8 protector

I added multiple shots of Sam and her teammates through the next few pages. Cheering at the football games, homecoming, etc. and incorporated some homemade handwritten titles. ("homecoming is hand-lettered and cut from my silhouette out of gold paper)

A Basketball kit and papers from my local Michael's store were the perfect embellishments for the second half of the season... basketball.

*sometimes when working in a smaller album you need to get creative with collages to fill more action in a single 4x6 photo. This way I was able to capture all 4 stunt groups.

Next we are getting into the Competition Team side of the book. The funny thing with comp is that crafty moms like to make locker decorations for each event - the bigger the event - the more decorations went on the lockers at the school. below the "Good Luck" was her first deco, and I added this to the back of her team photo, mounted on card stock just like the Freshman team photo and placed i the book by itself. To the right is her comp pic from photo day. (on the back of the individual photos I always write a letter to Sam about the season, and how proud of her I am... I am not the one who will be looking at these books in 10 years - hopefully she still will and will appreciate a handwritten note from mom.)

*It's fun to gather memorabilia from as many places I can. the article on the right actually came from their school newspaper.

I happened to be at the school and picked one up. Sam wasn't going to voluntarily do that for me.... You may need to do some school snooping of your own to capture some cool stuff.

*The WPIAL program behind this went into a 6x8 protector but needed trimmed a bit. No big deal, the main info is intact.

On the back of the program is the schedule, a candy wrapper made by another mom who gave them out on the bus because we made it to States (located in Hershey, PA).

More QR codes that link to a private facebook page of their WPIAL routines, so she can watch them anytime. If you have never added QR codes there are lots of great tutorials on You Tube. Plus it adds a bit of movement and life to your books/pages.

These next three pics just highlight a newspaper article about the girls in a local paper and their accomplishments and wishing them well at States.

The 4x6 photo with QR codes and journaling is an added flip page, where on the back I added a reduced copy size of the schedule of the event.

These next few pics are all from States in Hershey, PA. The locker decorations were just added into the book with a hole punch. A 6x8 page protector was filled with tickets from the competition, more decorations, schedule of events, a beverage napkin from team dinner, brochure of the Hershey museum tour the girls took, and finished with a newspaper article clipped to the front and folded under to fit in the book.
The last 4x6 page even included a personal postcard received from the School Principal. (A small 3x4 flip page and I had room to add the QR codes of the event's routines.)

The team finished the year with a trip to Disney. All the pages used elements from a kit from Simple Stories Sn@p! collection. The opening pages included a good luck from Mickey postcard from Sam's coach, all of the locker decorations. After some photos of the event, it ended with QR codes, flight details and magic train stickers and luggage tags.

It was an amazing season ending with a banquet and party. I reduced a copy of her 1st year Letterman Award and placed it in the pocket with her banquet program.. A few last team photos (1 comp team and 1 freshman team), and yes, Sam will be doing it all again next year!